Current Ponies

Monday, July 9, 2012

Woo Hoo 20 degrees Cooler

I feel like it has been forever since I have written anything. The crazy heat wave made for really long days. We kept the horses in the barn during the day and then would turn them out when the sun started going down. Since sunset is now about 9pm, that meant a long day. By time I finished doing barn work after they went out and made the hour drive home, no writing was happening.

Saturday was so hot and humid. I think the high with the heat index was 108. I did not do much at all, except torture Roscoe by working on his bush.... otherwise known as his mane. He was wiggly, but eventually he stood still for longer periods. His neck at times was almost too relaxed making it hard use the blade. I worked down his mane evenly so one section did not end up shorter. After all the pushing up of his mane to get the long strands he looked like he touched a live socket. I still have more mane to take off and unfortunately, for me at least, it looks like Roscoe's light patch of fur will show once his mane is at the right length. Mom keeps telling me it is the "thumb print of God," but I am not thrilled.

Are you not done bothering me yet? It is time for my nap.

As the sun finally started to set, I decided to brave the temperature. It was only 98, ha ha. DaVinci and I headed out to the front field which has some nice small hills. I knew I would not work him long, so I made the most of the time using the hills to get pushing up and sitting going down. He was a bit distracted by the music coming from the high school down the road, but we managed. And that was the extent of my riding for the last week.

This week is starting much better even with all the fore casted rain. The temperature was only in the upper 70's and only a little humid. Even the horses were brighter without the oppressive heat. All of us, mom, my sister and I, decided we were going to ride. Once we chipped the horses out of the mud, we were off. I rode Rosemary bareback and worked on our bending. She still does not completely grasp the concept of moving off my inside leg, but she is getting better. Mostly we stayed at walk. She did well changing directions with cues from weight aids. Her motorcycle impression kicked in when she was paying more attention to where the other two horses were at instead of me. I found that if I lifted my hands up and over to the outside, keeping my hands even, she gave me the correct bend and took the weight off the inside shoulder. Once through a turn I lowered my hands and centered again. After a little while, I did not need to lift as high or move as far to the outside to get the bend. I really enjoy seeing how Rosemary learns. She makes me think about the movement and not just take it for granted.

Now let's hope the rest of the week will allow riding. Comrade has had way too long a vacation.